1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a packaging arrangement for the containment of at least one hydrophilic contact lens in a sterile aqueous solution. More specifically, the invention pertains to a packaging arrangement wherein a plurality of disposable hydrophilic contact lenses are contained in a specific number of individual packaging arrangements collectively housed in a box-like container or carton so as to provide a specified or essentially measured supply of contact lenses for use by a consumer over a predetermined period of time.
The packaging of hydrophilic contact lenses in a sterile aqueous solution is well known in the contact lens manufacturing technology. In particular, such packaging arrangements generally consist of so-called blister packages which are employed for the storage and dispensing of the hydrophilic contact lenses by a medical practitioner or to consumer who intends to wear the contact lenses. Generally, such hydrophilic contact lenses, which may be disposable after a single wear or short-term use, are manufactured from suitable hydrophilic polymeric materials. These materials may be, amongst others, copolymers of hydroxyethyl methacrylate containing from about 20% to 90% or more of water, depending upon the polymer composition. Generally, such contact lenses must be stored in a sterile aqueous solution, usually in isotonic saline solution in order to prevent dehydration and to maintain the lenses in a ready-to-wear condition.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Heretofore, contact lens manufacturers normally utilized stoppered glass bottles containing sterile saline solutions in which the hydrophilic contact lenses were immersed as storage and shipping containers for individual contact lenses. Each bottle was sealed with a suitable silicone stopper and provided with a metal closure as a safety seal in the configuration of an overcap. When the contact lens was intended to be removed from the bottle for use by a patient, the metal closure safety seal was required to be initially torn off the bottle, thereafter the stopper withdrawn and the lens lifted out from the bottle through the intermediary of a suitable plastic tweezer or pouring the contents out. This entailed the implementation of an extremely complicated procedure, since the contact lens was difficult to grasp and remove from the saline solution contained in the bottle due to the transparent nature of the contact lens which rendered it practically invisible to the human eye.
More recently, containments in the form of blister packages have been developed for hydrophilic contact lenses, and which enable the storage and shipping of the hydrophilic contact lenses in a simple and inexpensive expedient manner, while concurrently facilitating the conveniently easy removal of the contact lens by a practitioner or a patient.
For instance, a blister package which is adapted to provide a sterile sealed storage environment for a disposable or single-use hydrophilic contact lens, wherein the lens is immersed in a sterile aqueous solution; for example, such as in an isotonic saline solution, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,820 to Martinez; which is assigned to the common assignee for the present inventions and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Thus, in the above-mentioned U.S. patent, the blister package for storing and dispensing a hydrophilic contact lens includes an injection-molded or thermoformed plastic base portion incorporating a molded cavity which is surrounded by an outstanding planar flange about the rim of the cavity. A flexible cover sheet is adhered to the surface of the flange so as to sealingly enclose the cavity in a generally liquid-tight mode. Within the cavity of the base portion, a hydrophilic contact lens is immersed in a sterile aqueous solution, such as an isotonic saline solution. A portion of the side wall of the cavity is inclined to form a ramp extending upwardly towards the flange from the bottom of the cavity, and the cover sheet is adapted to be stripped from the flange in order to expose the cavity and inclined side wall whereupon the lens may be readily manually removed by being slid upwardly and out of the cavity along the inclined ramp surface of the cavity.
Although the foregoing blister package construction for the containment of contact lenses clearly provides a significant advance over prior structures requiring glass bottles and removable stopper arrangements for housing the contact lenses, the present invention further improves upon the uses and versatility of blister package construction in that the cavity is essentially of a semispherical configuration dimensioned so as to be adapted to closely support the contact lens therein immersed in an aqueous solution for ease of removal and also to facilitate an inspection process. Moreover, the foregoing construction primarily considers the utilization of such blister packages for the dispensing of individual contact lenses, with such blister packages being ordinarily separate or single packagings, which may then be housed in larger quantities in a further container, such as a rigid cardboard or paperboard carton of usual construction employed for the retail sales of the lenses.
Accordingly, it is an important aspect to be able to furnish a user of such disposable hydrophilic contact lenses with a specific supply of contact lenses, the latter of which are normally worn for only a single day; in essence, for ordinarily 8 to 18 hours within a 24-hour period and thereafter discarded. Hereby, the packaging of a supply of contact lenses should enable the user to store and provide indication for replenishing the supply of contact lenses at regular intervals; for example, at periods of 30 days. Consequently, the present invention contemplates the provision of packaging arrangements for specified quantities of such hydrophilic contact lenses, wherein these packaging arrangements are boxed in a carton enabling a rapid and precise determination as to the quantity of hydrophilic contact lenses contained therein, and with such packaging arrangements being of a compact nature which is completely protective of the hydrophilic lenses.
In essence, the inventive concept pertains to packaging arrangements in which a plurality of blister packages each having a semi-circular cavity containing respectively one hydrophilic contact lens in a sterile aqueous solution. A specified quantity of such blister packages has molded plastic base members thereof each containing a contact leans positioned in a contiguous array, and is covered by a single flexible cover sheet constituted of a laminated foil or silicon oxide, or other suitable material structure to provide a sealed environment for each of the contact lenses contained in the cavity formed in each base member. Weakening lines are formed in the flexible cover sheet intermediate adjoining base members to enable detachment from the array of individual blister packages containing one of the hydrophilic contact lenses as may be required by a user. In particular, a plurality of such arrays of continuous packaging arrangements for contact lenses, which arrays are in an interconnected planar form, are adapted to be arranged superimposed in a generally rectangular carton. Each successively superimposed array is inverted and rotationally reversed relative to a preceding underlying array so as to enable the respective arrays to be interleaved and compactly support each other. The cavities containing the contact lenses of a superimposed array are arranged inverted relative to the cavities of an array of blister packages located therebeneath or thereabove, such that the mutually inverted cavities will be positioned adjacent to cavities of a superimposed array in an interleaved compact arrangement at minimum spacial requirements. Consequently, a plurality of planar arrays of blister packages which are each respectively interconnected by a single flexible cover sheet for each array are in a superimposed contacting relationship within a substantially rigid rectangular carton, with such arrays containing a specific quantity of disposable hydrophilic contact lenses to furnish a user with a desired supply; for instance, thirty (30) hydrophilic contact lenses in six superimposed arrays of five blister packages each; in essence, a thirty-day supply of contact lenses.
Each of the blister package base members which has a rectangular outstanding planar flange encompassing a respective cavity therein, the latter of which is offset towards one edge, includes a depending wall portion formed at the opposite edge of the flange so as to provide a support for a superimposed or therebeneath located array of blister packages, thereby formulating rigidly supported and compact packaging arrangements within the carton, in which the cavities containing the hydrophilic contact lenses of superimposed arrays are substantially protected against potentially damaging external influences, such as shocks or impacts which may be imparted to the filled carton during handling thereof.
Each molded plastic base member of a blister package may be constituted from a suitable injection molded or thermoformed thermoplastic sheet material, such as a polyolefin, for instance polypropylene; whereas the flexible cover sheet may be constituted of a laminate of a polypropylene film and aluminum foil or a layer of silicon oxide, suitably imprinted and which is adapted to be heat-sealed to the flange extending about the cavity of the package containing the hydrophilic contact lens. The flexible cover sheet may be of a construction and imprinted in a novel manner as disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/106,386; filed on Aug. 13, 1993; entitled xe2x80x9cMethod of Double-Sided Printing of a Laminate and Product Obtained Therebyxe2x80x9d, commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a packaging arrangement for hydrophilic contact lenses, wherein a plurality of lenses are located in base members of blister packages which are interconnected by a common flexible cover sheet to form an array of such packages.
A more specific object of the invention is to provide a packaging arrangement for a plurality of hydrophilic contact lenses in which a plurality of blister packages each having a cavity containing one of the contact lenses in a sterile aqueous solution are interconnected in an array by a single flexible cover sheet containing weakening lines intermediate the base members of the packages enabling separation of individual of the blister packages from the array for dispensing the contact lens from the separated package.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement for the storage of a plurality of superimposed arrays of blister packages within a substantially rigid carton structure.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide structure for blister packages of the type described for the storage of hydrophilic contact lenses in a sterile aqueous environment, wherein pluralities of arrays of blister packages are arranged in specified mutually inverted superimposed relationship with a carton, and incorporate integrally formed supporting structure so as to be compactly and protectively supported within the carton.